


rooted in blood-black soil

by Shadaras



Series: Drabbles [27]
Category: Changeling: The Lost
Genre: Escape, F/F, I Hurt You Because I Love You, Tree-Based Body Horror, Triple Drabble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:47:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26859190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadaras/pseuds/Shadaras
Summary: There is always a cost to deciding to run, but Willow is willing to pay it.
Relationships: Original Female Character/Original Female Character
Series: Drabbles [27]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1835029
Comments: 6
Kudos: 4
Collections: Writing Rainbow Black





	rooted in blood-black soil

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kimaracretak](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kimaracretak/gifts).



A madly-running fox crested a distant hill, and Willow's heart went out to it as trumpets heralded the Lord's pursuit. The fox could run, but that was its job, just as she was here to provide shade and Lure was here to catch fish. No matter how much Willow wished to escape from this eerily-perfect storybook land, it was hard when her root-legs could barely move from the dark river-rich soil.

So when Lure arrived with an axe and a shovel in her perfect hands, Willow’s first question was, “Did He change your role? Are you here to say goodbye?”

Lure shook her head, eyes dark mirrors in the shadow of her hat. “He’s distracted. He’s gone hunting. Can you draw your roots up?”

“The earth is too much,” Willow said, not for the first time. Still, the sapblood of her heart rose faster; the other times, Lure hadn’t had tools with her. “Break it.”

Lure smiled, showing teeth too sharp for an ordinary fisher. “This will hurt.”

“I know.” Willow withdrew, as best she could, to the core of the tree-that-was-her. “Do it.”

She could feel every press of shovel into thick mud, every crack of sharp blade into the wood of her body. It hurt, and her leaves fell as tears as Lure broke her to pieces, carving away the shackles of bark and ignoring the blood that spilled.

When the axe hit her limbs, Willow swallowed back her screams, because she didn’t want the Lord to know what they were doing. She couldn’t alert anyone, and so she endured, no matter how much it hurt.

She fell into Lure’s strong arms, stumbled away on feet that tore with every step, and ran into the woods.

She didn’t think it would be enough, but they had to try.


End file.
